When Holly came to class she mentioned that the people she worked with, Brian specifically, can write their names but cannot read or really write any other words. I don’t remember if I thought that this was normal or what, because it didn’t strike me as being odd or a literacy trait. Both of the readings this week mention the ability to write/sign one’s own name as being a measurable literacy trait.

Resnick and Resnick say that, “if writing one’s name were what was meant by literacy, we would not be worried that illiteracy was a national problem. Yet the signature was not always a demand easy to satisfy” (371). For some reason, until reading these pieces, I think I saw writing your own name as an inherit ability rather than a learned skill. Even after teaching preschoolers how to identify the letters in their name, describing the shapes to them, and helping them practice writing their names; I somehow never understood that this was something people could not know. Even when reading the Akinnaso piece, I somehow did not grasp this concept when he discussed that in his village the people there would use alternative methods of signing a document because they could not sign their names.

I have a really sketchy memory of learning how to read and write and I think this plays into my understanding, or lack there of, of the process of learning how to sign your own name. I’m sure I didn’t just wake up one day with the ability to read and write perfectly, in fact my time learning was probably gruesome and that’s why I have blocked it from my memory. I do remember that my parents’ signatures always fascinated me and I would practice “cursive” by scribbling lines and curly-ques on paper until I learned how to form my name.

I have noticed lately that not many people sign their names in cursive anymore, but merely print their names. I remember my third grade teacher making such a stink about how important it was to learn cursive and how I was going to need to know for the future, yet I cannot remember a single circumstance where I have needed to write anything in cursive. This is probably a stretch, but I wonder if the lack of people signing their names in cursive is due to a lack of teaching it in schools or if it is merely a preference.

I also wonder if maybe teaching children to write their names is in some way their parents’ responsibilities? And building off of that, teaching them how to read/write. I think today we would say that it is mostly the parents’ responsibility, but reading this week’s pieces it seems that historically it is the responsibility of teachers and schools. Historically children surpass their parents’ literacy by miles, and this trend continues. With that in mind, is it then understandable if parents do not take it upon themselves to teach their children how to read/write and hire someone else to do it instead?  Do children gain something besides bonding time with their parents when they are not the ones who teach them how to read/write? In asking this question I am not assuming that not teaching these skills means not supporting them at home through reading to them or lending help when needed; I mean it in that when parents read to their children they are not setting out with the aim to teach their children to read but simply sharing a book with them.